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Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Despite allegations, suspended priest thrives as family therapist

Caitlin McCabePhiladelphia Inquirer
Originally posted July 16, 2015

After the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden removed Edward Igle from active ministry in 2000 over an allegation of sex abuse, he turned to his second career: family counseling.

Licensed as a therapist since the 1980s, the suspended priest runs a South Jersey practice, counseling families and children, and teaches related classes through a Philadelphia-based center, including on how to identify and clinically treat victims of sex abuse.

In 2011, church officials told New Jersey regulators about two men who claimed that Igle abused them in the 1970s. The diocese deemed both claims credible, a spokesman said, but too late under the statute of limitations to lead to prosecution.

The state has repeatedly renewed Igle's licenses.

In interviews this month, Igle, 68, denied any misconduct. He called "inaccurate" any suggestion that the first abuse allegation forced him from ministry.

"I have never sexually abused anyone in my life," he said last week at his Vineland family and marriage counseling practice, the Center for Relational Counseling.

He said that although he counsels children, he never meets alone with them. And when he teaches professionals about sex abuse, among other topics, he said he sometimes mentions that he was once accused of abuse.